Hand in Hand

I will not be the poet of a vanished world.
I will not recite the future realm as well.
I am confined in life and I look toward my fellows.
They are reticent but still feed great hope.
Amongst them lies this huge reality.
The present is so vast, let us keep together.
Do not stand away, let us keep hand in hand.

I will not be the poet of a woman, of a tale.
I will not sigh at nightfall,
 neither will I praise the portrait view from my window.
I will not disperse opiate,
 neither will I disperse suicide letters.
I will not run away to the islands,
 neither will I be abducted by seraphins.

Time is my matter, the present time,
 the present people, the present life.


                                       -- Carlos Drummond de Andrade